The Oscar Buzz is Celebrating Its Seventh Anniversary!

Scene from The Seven Year Itch

On this day in 2012, The Oscar Buzz launched as a place to celebrate all things involving awards season. As its core writer, I feel that it has given me a lot of opportunities and has even expanded my general interests as I've gone deeper into what makes an average film year remarkable. It's expanded to include coverage of awards season (Nothing But the Best, Best Song, Failed Oscar Campaigns) as well as indie film (A24 A-to-Z) and even stage musicals (Legitimate Theater). Whatever the subject, I have enjoyed exploring in grand detail and raising interest in the discussion of a medium that means the world to me. For a website that started to track The Master's Oscar chances, it has evolved into something greater, and I'm proud to see it continue to flourish.

So, how exactly do you celebrate seven years? In general, I have used this area to discuss my life in relation to film. It has ranged from discussing favorite EGOT winners to favorite nominees of the same source material (last year I discussed Pygmalion and My Fair Lady). While it was difficult to land on a specific subject, I began to realize that instead of doing a list, I am choosing to use director Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch as a springboard to discuss my love of a very certain kind. After all, I have been with this sweetheart for seven years. How could I not have some itching going on? Much like the Marilyn Monroe vehicle, I still have a lot to say, and what follows will hopefully give you a sense of who I am through the lens of a performer who deserved more credit than she deserved. I hope by the end you'll understand what really made her special to me.

R.I.P. Marni Nixon (1930-2016)

Marni Nixon

On January 24, 2016, singer and actress Marni Nixon died in Manhattan, New York at the age of 86 from breast cancer. It is likely that you don't know her face or name that well, but you'll likely recognize her voice. Dubbed by Time Magazine as "The Ghostess with the Mostest," she largely made her career in film working behind the scenes as a singer dubbing for actresses ranging from Deborah Kerr to Natalie Wood to Audrey Hepburn in films like The King and I, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady. She was also proficient on stage as a singer and sometimes toured with performers like Liberace and Victor Borge. She enjoyed a Hollywood career without the tassels of fame, serving as the underrated talent that made some of cinema's greatest musicals work so well. Her name may not be familiar, but her work will live on forever in Oscar history thanks to her tireless work to make lesser singers shine.